Episcopal Life Daily March 5, 2008
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:
* TOP STORY - Joint Standing Committee discusses Lambeth Conference, Windsor Process * WORLD REPORT - CENTRAL AFRICA: World church body to monitor Zimbabwe elections, U.N. head told * SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS - Fifth Sunday in Lent - Year A [RCL] * DAYBOOK - March 6, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History * CATALYST - Alive and Loose in the Ordinary: Stories of the Incarnation
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TOP STORIES
Joint Standing Committee discusses Lambeth Conference, Windsor Process
Presiding Bishop joins five-day meeting in London
By Matthew Davies
[Episcopal News Service, London] The Lambeth Conference and issues relating to the Windsor Process were the primary concerns addressed at the February 29-March 4 meeting of the Primates/Anglican Consultative Council Joint Standing Committee which was held in private at the London-based Anglican Communion Office.
While much of the conversation focused on process and the respective roles of the Joint Standing Committee, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who was elected to the Primates Standing Committee in February 2007, said it had been "enlightening, not only to get to know people and to build some relationships, but to hear more about the different contexts in which people function and the ongoing frustration with how much time we spend talking about conflict rather than mission."
The committee registered its appreciation for the work of the Lambeth Conference Design Group, but noted that particular details of the meeting are still being worked out and that fundraising is a continuing need for the once-a-decade gathering of the Anglican Communion's bishops. More than 800 bishops have been invited to attend the July 16-August 3 conference in Canterbury. A separate conference for the bishops' spouses will run concurrently.
The committee acknowledged that five primates have said their bishops will not be attending the Lambeth Conference, "but recognized that some bishops from those provinces are expected to attend," Jefferts Schori said. "The hope is that more will certainly decide to attend."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_95455_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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WORLD REPORT
CENTRAL AFRICA: World church body to monitor Zimbabwe elections, U.N. head told http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_95464_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS
Many of us hearing today's Old Testament reading from Ezekiel -- that rich and vivid story about the valley of dry bones -- instantly remember the words of a song learned in childhood. These words:
The toe bone connected to the foot bone, The foot bone connected to the ankle bone, The ankle bone connected to the leg bone, The leg bone connected to the knee bone, The knee bone connected to the thigh bone, The thigh bone connected to the hip bone, The hip bone connected to the back bone, The back bone connected to the shoulder bone, The shoulder bone connected to the neck bone, The neck bone connected to the head bone, Less easy to recall, however, are the song's opening words:
God called Ezekiel one morning, "Go down and prophesy." Ezekiel taught the Zion the powers of God, And the bones begin to rise. We're going to walk around with-a dry bones. Why don't you rise and hear the word of the Lord?
The words, of course, come from an old negro spiritual. There can be little wonder why it emerged out of the experience of African Americans in the southern United States. It welled up from the midst of a people trapped in that dark period of our history when slavery still prevailed -- when whites stole the labor of captive Africans, who as slaves, mostly embraced the Christian religion of their masters.
Full reflection: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82478_95471_ENG_HTM.htm
More Spiritual Reflections: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm
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DAYBOOK
On March 6, 2008...
* Today in Scripture: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm * Today in Prayer: Anglican Cycle of Prayer: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm * Today in History: On March 6, 1976, John Shelby Spong was elected Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Newark at a Special Convention.
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CATALYST
"Alive and Loose in the Ordinary: Stories of the Incarnation" from Church Publishing, Inc., by Martha Sterne, 120 pages, paperback, c. 2006, $15
[Source: Church Publishing, Inc.] "Except for once, I have never heard the voice of Jesus without some person or place in the creation doing the speaking for him. So I want to witness to the power of the Incarnation alive and aloose in the ordinariness of the world for us and through us and among us. And I offer these little sketches of remembered grace to invite you to notice your own soul's companions and the thin places in your life through which grace, well, springs."
With a light touch and warm voice, and just a hint of a Southern accent, Martha Sterne tells the stories of her encounters with Christ -- in the supermarket and the beauty parlor, in the garden, the kitchen, and sometimes even the church.
Sterne shares her gift for storytelling, showing readers that the Incarnation is alive and loose everywhere they look, in the listening ears, kind voices, and loving hearts of people they bump into everywhere. Each essay is followed by reflection questions, making this a lovely volume for group study.
To order: Episcopal Books and Resources, online at http://www.episcopalbookstore.org, or call 800-903-5544 -- or visit your local Episcopal bookseller, http://www.episcopalbooksellers.org
More Catalyst: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/83842_ENG_HTM.htm